A New Resolve
by Niome N
Summary: Gaara decides to confide his feelings to his brother, about his ambitions in future and how he intends to accomplish them. *This is a sequel to 'A Pain Understood.' Though you don't have to read that story to understand this one.


**A New Resolve **

**Naruto, Gaara and Kankuro – Friendship thing etc.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

***Based on Episode 5 in Naruto Shippuden.**

**A/N: This is a sort-of sequel to 'A Pain Understood.' Though you don't have to read that story to understand this one.**

Gaara was standing near a cliff, overlooking the sunset and sand dunes again. He was waiting for his brother Kankuro to show up.

After Kankuro showed up to where Gaara was, there was a bit of a tense silence in the air. Finally, Kankuro decided to break it.

"_Gaara give it up. I don't want to say this . . . The village only sees you as a menacing weapon."_

Didn't he already know that! He lived his life an outcast in his own village because of Shukaku that was sealed within him since childbirth.

"_You'll have a hard time if you leave us and join a regular squad. The higher-ups don't think much of you. And most of the villagers are still terrified of you."_

The elders' of the village despised him, actually the whole village did, and even he knew that. Whoever thought otherwise would have been a fool not to notice the elders' and villagers behaviour towards him. Complete and utter contempt.

"_I know."_ Gaara said.

"_I know, but just sitting around and waiting will cause more fear and suffering."_

_Fear_ and _suffering_, things Gaara used to use when he was under the control of Shukaku, losing his cool when _'he'_ screamed for blood. But from now on, he would never listen to the voice inside him. It was time for change.

"_In order to escape a path of loneliness, I have no choice but to work hard and make my own path."_

That much was true. If he continued on the path where he was needlessly killing people, he himself would not be alive. That was why . . .

"_If I do that, then someday . . . Someday . . . I can be like 'him.'"_

That was why Gaara had decided to make a new path, to open his eyes to see the light, even if it was only faint, it still counted. Because that was his way out of being in solitude. And it was all thanks to _'him.'_

"_That's why, as a shinobi of the Sand, I'll aim to be the Kazekage."_

Just like Naruto's dream was to become Hokage, Gaara took Naruto's dream as his own and began the long path to becoming the Kazekage.

"_So I can live a life connected my village."_

To be accepted by others in his village would not be easy, but if he tried hard enough, and tried to look forward to what the future would bring . . .

"_I want to work hard so that others will accept my existence."_

Acceptance . . . One thing that both Gaara and Naruto so desperately craved. But with hard work maybe he and Naruto could become accepted by their village and fellow shinobi in the years to come.

"_That's what I thought when I looked at Naruto Uzumaki. Up until now, my bonds with others have only been ones of hatred and murder."_

After the death and betrayal of Yashamaru, Gaara only found refuge within himself, and escaped into a world of solitude, where he became lost . . . In the depths of loneliness, and lashing out in hatred towards those around him, including his own siblings.

"_But seeing him fight so hard made me wonder what a bond really is."_

During the Chuunin Exams at Konohagakure, where he lost control of Shukaku, that's when he saw him appear. Where he saw him fight to save the lives of his friends, and defeated him, that's when he had to wonder . . . What a bond really is.

"_I think I understand a little now. Suffering, sadness . . . And joy . . . To be able to share it with another person . . ."_

Understanding a little was better than nothing. Emotion was very foreign to Gaara. Since he had lived so long without emotion, _true_ emotion, it was very difficult to express himself in these kinds of situations. So it was then he decided to confide in Kankuro . . .

"_Naruto Uzumaki . . . When I fought him, I feel that is what he taught me. He experienced the same type of suffering as I."_

As much as it hurt Kankuro to hear that, it was true. Naruto would be the only one to reach to that one part of Gaara's conscience where he could not. But that would not stop him from trying. Because at least he could take comfort in the fact that, his brother was not alone. He was not the only one who held a great deal of power within him, and had to suffer for it.

"_And he taught me that you can change how you live your life."_

Just because your path is set out for you, does not mean you have to follow it directly, in Gaara's case, the wrong path. But if he strived forward carving out a new path for himself, and if he worked hard enough, his reward would be most fruitful.

"_Someday, I want my existence to be necessary to others to others."_

Because that way, he would know that some people actually do care about him, and he wouldn't have to be lonely anymore . . . Because he had people at his side now.

"_Not as a weapon to be feared . . ."_

No, Gaara wanted to acknowledged, not feared, because wasn't he himself human? He was only viewed as a weapon for as long as he could remember. But it was finally time to stop, after all these years, because he wanted to be acknowledged as . . .

"_But as Sunagakure's next Kazekage."_

And it was in that moment where Gaara let a true smile come to his lips. It was like a promise. But better yet, it was a way of showing Gaara's:

'_New Resolve.'_


End file.
